Investment cooperative Horticoop announces a strategic investment in the American company 25:2. This plant breeding company combines its extensive seed bank with proprietary AI technology in a fully integrated process. This accelerates the development of new crop varieties and allows for more targeted targeting of desired traits. In this way, the company contributes to future-proof agriculture and horticulture, an ambition that aligns with Horticoop's objectives.  

25:2 responds to the growing need of growers for crops with improved traits, such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, and higher nutritional value. The company focuses on both outdoor and indoor cultivation and a wide range of crops. Its proprietary AI technology enables an integrated selection and crossing system, which combines genetic data from more than 20,000 varieties from its own seed bank with practical data from trials. Based on this, the most promising crosses can be predicted more accurately. This approach enables 25:2 to develop better seeds in a highly targeted manner and to organise the breeding process more predictably and efficiently, shortening the traditional breeding cycle by approximately one and a half years.

The Idaho (USA)-based breeding company has a global network of trial sites and customers in a variety of climates. Horticoop's investment will enable 25:2 to gain a stronger foothold in the European market. The company plans to open an office in the Netherlands, further expanding the coverage of its trial sites. Patrick Groeneveld, Managing Director of Horticoop, explains: “25:2's unique technology is a breakthrough in our industry. The ability to drastically shorten the breeding process for new varieties using AI and data analytics offers enormous value to farmers and growers worldwide. With this investment, Horticoop is taking a strategic step that aligns with our mission to invest in companies that make a positive, sustainable contribution to global agriculture and horticulture.” 

Eric Jackson, CEO of 25:2: “With Horticoop, we welcome a strategic partner who is intimately familiar with the international agricultural and horticultural sector and shares our ambition to make breeding faster and more efficient, making crops worldwide stronger and more nutritious. This investment allows us to strengthen our commercial operations and roll out our technology more broadly in Europe, giving growers and seed companies faster access to innovative varieties.”